Since I hadn't gotten any real bites on the 2005 Prius I bought cheap and fixed up, I opened it up for possibly being willing to trade it besides just outright selling it. Yesterday I was contacted by a guy looking to downsize from a 2005 Z71 Suburban to a more city-friendly car. We met up today and looked over each other's respective cars lightly (neither one of us looked under the hood of the cars, though he did admit he'd have no idea what he was looking at on a hybrid anyway...).

First off, here's the two cars:

My Prius: http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/4875460991.html

The Suburban: http://lexington.craigslist.org/cto/4852076207.html

There's a build thread on my Prius- it's come a long way since I got it, but is obviously not perfect. The Suburban isn't too far off in overall condition- it's got a few light dings, the leather on the driver's seat is definitely worn but not torn... about, as his listing says, what you'd expect for a 10-year-old truck. It is pretty tricked out equipment-wise, for its day- programmable electric seats, DVD system for kids in the back, rear climate control.

Running the truck through KBB, even being as conservative as possible, it comes up as being worth at least $6,000. The Prius comes up at best around $4,500. He's interested in trading straight-up for the Prius. I've been as up-front as possible about the Prius, in particular the fact it does have rather high (266k) miles and likely its original hybrid battery and the fact that it will at some point fail- but that like a car's engine it's difficult to determine just how long it will last, and I've outlined the costs I'd found regarding the different options to deal with it (from a grid charger at $400 to the dealer replacing the battery at about $4k).

The one thing worth noting regarding the Suburban is that there was a warning on the display about a tire pressure system monitor failure. Looking into it, it's only a $40 or so part... but it also looks like it requires taking the tire off the wheel to get to it, something I don't have the resources to do myself- so I'd have to factor in the cost of fixing that before turning around and trying to sell it for top dollar.

Almost no way that I look at it is this a bad deal for me- unless there's something seriously wrong with the truck that I'm not seeing (and I will look a good bit closer at the mechanical stuff if I go forward with the trade), I should be able to do a bit of fixing and some detailing and potentially sell it for over a grand more than I can get out of the Prius.

What is something of an unknown to me is just whether it would be easier or harder to sell a huge SUV like the Suburban vs. the hybrid Prius. Both are fairly specialized vehicles, but with very different target demographics. My feeling would be that here, in the middle of horse country where half of all the families (number pulled out of thin air, but probably not far off...) own a truck or SUV capable of towing, that selling a fairly nice Suburban would actually be easier than selling the Prius.

Thoughts? Anyone know what having one of the TMPS sensors replaced costs? Thanks!

Sounds like a good deal, but...there's a present growing fear of gas prices climbing to potentially their highest point ever by summer - which vehicle would be worth more then? Which will be worth more even if gas doesn't get that high, but the media circus keeps chanting "the sky is falling"?

Sounds like the prevailing opinion is in line with my gut instinct that it's a very good deal for me, and SWMBO has given as much blessing to it as I'm likely to get. :p

I'm not too worried about gas prices down the line- the plan will be to clean it up (doesn't need much, but could use a good interior detailing), fix the sensor and anything else minor that needs it, and put it up for sale ASAP for $1k or so more than I have the Prius up for.

May not even need to replace the sensor, you may just have to have them relearned. Requires a trigger tool or some you can just change the air pressure enough to trigger the sensor. Should be easy to figure out with some google-fu. Or perhaps it's just warning your tire pressure is low and you just need to add air. Do it.

Petrolburner wrote:
May not even need to replace the sensor, you may just have to have them relearned. Requires a trigger tool or some you can just change the air pressure enough to trigger the sensor. Should be easy to figure out with some google-fu. Or perhaps it's just warning your tire pressure is low and you just need to add air. Do it.

Check the spare tire. Everyone always forgets to check air on those and in the winter they get low enough to trip the sensor/light. Gets my wife every year, lol.

I wouldn't worry about the TPMS light. Mine in the Transit Connect has been on for the last two years. I put different size wheels and tires on it and didn't bother to get new sensors or transfer the old ones. If the system is like Ford's all that happens is the light comes on, I have just been to lazy to put a piece of tape over it.